WWARN welcomes the release of the new action plan to prevent the development and spread of artemisinin resistance

12 January 2011

The WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN) welcomes the publication of the Global Plan for Artemisinin Resistance Containment (GPARC) developed by the World Health Organization. We are pleased to support and participate in this coordinated effort with the many stakeholders represented here today to contain the current threat of emerging artemisinin resistance.

It is a matter of great concern that, today, there are still large geographic areas from which we do not have antimalarial drug efficacy data. All stakeholders should seek to increase their capacity for surveillance to assure that these gaps are bridged.  WWARN is collaborating with the WHO Global Malaria Programme to design a platform for sharing information on antimalarial resistance and to develop tools to facilitate monitoring antimalarial drug efficacy. WWARN aims to integrate data collected by country teams and research organizations on all aspects of resistance – clinical, molecular, pharmacology and in vitro. This approach will help to provide the quality-assured intelligence necessary for WHO and other policy makers to plan strategies on antimalarial drug use and, when necessary, to contain resistance.
 
The mechanism of artemisinin resistance is currently unknown, and we depend on a clinical definition of resistance.  There is neither a molecular marker nor a laboratory test to identify artemisinin resistant parasites. The availability of such a marker would dramatically improve the capacity to track the spread of resistance in the field. WWARN has established a collaborative platform to identify and validate candidate molecular markers of artemisinin resistance to assure that these tools are developed rapidly and made widely available to the malaria community.

WWARN commends the WHO for the creation and launch of the GPARC.  We look forward to continued, fruitful collaborations with the WHO and all GPARC supporters so that, together, we can collect and share relevant information on antimalarial resistance to inform effective strategies for containment of resistance wherever it is identified.

Philippe Guérin
WWARN Executive Director

For more information on the GPARC Report, see the WHO Press Release.

Download the full report.